Sienna sat cross legged on the floor with mounds of paper around her. She devoured her third piece of pizza and was enjoying the cabernet that Johnathan had brought with him.
“Mr. Wise”
“MMhmmm” he responded as he rounded the corner juggling piles of files.
“Something isn’t adding up here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take a look at these invoices,” she said as she handed him a stack of papers from the Swedish company, Burgden.
“What am I looking at here?” he questioned.
“Each invoice has been reprinted.”
“That’s a bit odd, but I don’t see any red flags.”
“I cross referenced the bank statements, as well as the receipts from the company. They were all over the place, almost a little too haphazardly filed, as if someone was purposely making it difficult to do any checking up. So, take a look at this bank statement. It’s dated 4 days before the invoice re-print.”
“Why does the bank statement not jive?” He looked perplexed.
“Mr. Wise.”
“Johnathan.” He interrupted.
“Johnathan.” She sighed. “One of your bimbos has been stealing from you. One of those girls out there deserves an Oscar for her nitwit performance.”
“I’ll be damned,” he stammered.
“It was a pretty solid con. From what I’ve found, whoever it was has defrauded the company out of over 100,000 just this year alone.” Sienna said with more than a touch of admiration in her voice. “If we hadn’t started to put all of this paperwork together, who knows how much longer she would have continued.
“How do we figure out who it is?”
“Well, that’s easy enough. We just need to have one of your IT guys track who was logged into the computer that did the invoice reprints.”
“Holy fuck.” Johnathan muttered and shook his face in his hands. “What have I done? On one hand, these girls have ruined my company with gross incompetence, and on the other, one has ruined it by playing me.”
“Your company isn’t ruined. I’ve seen many a company come back from bigger setbacks than this.”
Johnathan had pulled out his phone and vigorously typed a message to his head IT guy.
“I’ll have the whole department on it. We need to figure out who this is and then call the police. An investigation will really put a damper on the holiday season though.”
“The police may have to catch this girl in action, so it’s probably best if we continue on with the holiday planning as if nothing is wrong.”
Johnathan set down his mug of wine and swiveled to face Sienna. She could feel the heat from his knee against hers. Please don’t let him feel me trembling. She thought to herself as she held his gaze.
“You are amazing.” He said and placed his hand on her knee. She felt his warmth travel through her body and she could feel her face heating up. She turned her head down to try to hide her blush when she felt his hand raise her chin up.
“I mean it Sienna, hold your head high. There’s not a lot of women in this world like you.”
Jonathan leaned in and she mirrored his action. Instead of kissing her though, he held his face against hers, cheek to cheek. She inhaled deeply and could smell him, musk and leather. He smelled just like his jacket, only a million times better. They stayed with their faces pressed together until he pulled away, and confusingly, she swore that she saw his eyes glistening with tears.
“Well, we have a party to plan.” she whispered to him.
“Right, right.” He said and turned away from her. She could see him nonchalantly bring his fingers to his eyes to try to mask the tears.
“Let’s make it a fucking banger!” his voice quivered, but then grew in strength. “I want this to go down in history as the best party this company has ever had. Let’s get Siegfried and Roy’s fucking tigers. But not the one that bites, obviously. Go through my phone and any celebrity you see, invite them! I’m picturing ice sculptures, top DJs, the best catering in the city, go-go dancers…” he rambled.
“Johnathan. You just found out someone has defrauded the company for at least $100,000 just this year. Perhaps we should just strive to have a typical office party. You know, with a karaoke machine and appetizers on toothpicks.”
“I supposed you’re right.” he chuckled. “But when we find this fraudster, you and I are celebrating to the tune of…well, a fuck-ton.”
“So eloquent” Sienna laughed, relaxing for the first time in his presence.
“I’m going to head out now, please be sure to follow up with the police tomorrow and give me an update. What’s my schedule look like tomorrow?”
Sienna pulled out her phone and scanned his appointment calendar.
“You’re in meetings with Mr. O’Connor in the morning and have a three hour lunch blocked, then a conference call with Tokyo.”
“Cancel that lunch and move up the conference call, that way we can start working on this stuff a little earlier tomorrow.”
“Got it.” Sienna responded.
There are going to be some disappointed girls without lunch plans tomorrow, she thought to herself.
Johnathan had his hand on the doorknob to leave, when he turned.
“And let’s get sushi tomorrow night.”
“Roger that boss”
Sienna smiled and stood up off the floor.
He opened the door and then closed it again, hesitating. Sienna stood there, her heart racing, wondering what he was thinking.
He turned and walked briskly to her, wrapping his one arm around her waist and pulling her towards him. He ran his other hand behind her neck and up into her hair. Sienna, gasped and thought her heart was going to explode. He leaned in and kissed her on the lips gently.
She was shocked at first, but once his lips met hers, she responded out of instinct. She wrapped her hand around his neck and kissed him back and gently bit his lower lip. This seemed to set something off in him, making him ravenous for her. His grip behind her neck strengthened and he kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She tipped her head back and he kissed her along her collarbone, the kisses moving up her neck. He took her earlobe in his mouth and sucked, Sienna quivered and her legs became weak. She raised her head and met his lips once again.
They pulled apart and looked at each other, both a little stunned. Then he jerked his hands away from her body and held them up like he was in a stickup. Without a word, he turned on his heel and swiftly left the room.
Sienna had been shocked by the kiss; and now his Usain Bolt style exit added confusion to the shock. She sunk down to the floor. Maybe he had felt her muffin top and was disgusted? Maybe her breath still smelled like the copious amounts of pepperoni she had just ingested? She sighed and gathered up the papers around her.